


Rome the place to be

by 100cafbmf



Category: The 100(TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotional Hurt, Kabby AU, Multi, Past character dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-13 15:40:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11763045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100cafbmf/pseuds/100cafbmf
Summary: A grieving Clarke is leaving to Italy even though her mother wants her to stay in Los Angeles.





	1. Meet the Griffins

"Mom have you read the paper on the table yet?" she asked, right after she came home from school. Abby noticed that she had come home in a rush as if she needed to tell something. 

"Since when don't we say hi anymore?" Abby answered with a sarcastic tone looking at her daughter.

"Hi mom" Clarke sighed, she was walking toward her mother and kissed her on her cheek. 

"How was your day honey?" she asked, while she was watching her with a loving smile. They had not seen eachother in a while, Abby did mostly night shifts in the hospital and came home a few hours after Clarke left to go to school. When Clarke came back home, Abby was usually reading a book or watching TV. 

"Mr. Pike is arranging a trip to Rome at the end of the year. 100 students who are attending his Art class are invited to go there with him. That city.. that city has so many buildings, and a beautiful history. I'm looking forward to the moment when I"m finally able to see it" said Clarke with a smile on her face, looking for some eye-contact with her mother. Abby did not look Clarke in the eye at all, she stared in front of her and said nothing. 

"Mom, did you even read the letter?" she asked with an annoying look on her face. 

\------

The letter arrived two days ago on the doorstep. Abby had opened it immediately when she saw it, but she was not certain about what to say to Clarke. Her husband had not doubted for a second, he told her that he was willing to let Clarke travel to Europe with her class. In fact, it was missing a chance if she would not go. He visited Rome 30 years ago with his parents and the trip was totally worth it. 

"Our kid will have the time of her life" was what he said to her. 

"Yes she probably will and if she goes, I want her to have fun. But Jake, she is only 17 and Rome is 6331 miles away. What if something happens to her?" Abby answered with a concerned sound in her voice. 

Abby always thought that she had to protect Clarke, against the dark, mean friends at school, everything. Jake admired that about his wife, her love for their daughter was so pure, exactly as it should. 

If it was up to Abby, Clarke was not going on a trip that far away from home and definitely not alone but Jake offered her a deal. "Baby, what do you say if I'm going with her. I have heard that mr. Pike is looking for parents who whill accompany the whole journey. Will that change your mind?" suggested he with a cute smile. 

"Maybe, I"ll think about it" she said with a challenging look. 

\------ 

"What do you mean, "when I'm finally able to see it" Abby asked with a curious voice, "I have not given you permission to go, at least not yet? Why do you think that you are going to Rome anyway while we have not even talked about it? Sweetheart don't get me wrong, but I like to discuss big things like this first before you start looking forward to it." 

She could see the disappointed look in her daughters eyes, and she understood her. But was it to much to ask if Clarke would understand her too? 

"Mom, if this is about the money, I"ll pay whatever you want me to pay. I worked hard last summer, I can efford it" she said with a convinced smile. Really convinced that she thought that she had said the right thing to change her mothers mind. 

"Clarke, money is not the deal. The deal is that you will be out there alone in an unknown city on the other side of the world with only that sir Pike who I have not met." she said as a tear stroke down her face. "I'm afraid something bad will happen. And then I won't be there to protect you.. It is not that I don't have faith in you, I do, but I'm just worried." 

The look on Clarks face described that she understood Abby, but that did not mean she would agree with her. She still wanted to go. She barely saw her mother that sensitive, almost vulnerable. 

It was only a month, Italy was as safe as Los Angeles. In the past, her father had been away for 3 months or longer, and her mother was not protesting either back then? 

"Mom, we can skype everyday right, you can call me whenever you want. Dad suggested to come with me, will you give me permission if he does?" she asked while she putted her sweetest smile on her face "I'll call him immediately to ask if he really wants to go." 

Abby did not know what to say next. Lately, she and Jake had not seen eachother in a while either. She worked as a surgeon in the best hospital of Los Angeles, mostly at night. Jake had a high position at the company ton D.C, where he worked as an engineer. His shifts were irregular, he worked mostly 3 days long at a place where he also had to stay at night. After 3 days of working, he was the upcoming two days free, so he cooked diner, helped Clarke with homework and did the laundry. He left yesterday, so he would be home in two days, then they would talk about it although she already knew his opinion. She rather did not know if she liked the thought of Jake being in Rome with Clarke because then, she had to miss them both for over a month. 

"I'll give you the answer in three days honey," she said while she was turning the TV on. Clarke was sitting next to her, reading an article written by Vera Kane in the newspaper about a church in Rome, it was called 'The Eden Church'. She told Abby that if she would let her go, she would definitely visit that church. 

\--- 3 days later ---

Jake was sitting on the couch while Clarke came back from school. When she saw him sitting there, she walked toward him and surprised him with a hug. They had not seen eachother in 3 days. 

"Hey kid" Jake said while he was looking to his daughter who was growing everyday that he was not been able to see her. "Me and your mom talked, she is more okay with the whole Rome-thing if I will come with you. But be extra sweet to her, this was not an easy decision for her to make. The only thing I need to take care of now, is getting one month free off."

He enjoyed watching the reaction on Clarks face. She looked at him with a look full of happiness and excitement. "Thanks dad, for changing her mind. I have to finish an essay before midnight, see you later" she said, while she gave him a kiss on his cheek. 

She was walking upstairs to her room. Some sort of flow went through her veins, she felt so excited. She barely could not wait, but she had to for 270 more days. From then on, she started with counting how many days had to come before Italy.

The Griffins were healthy and according to Abby, that was all they needed, as long as they had eachother, they were happy. Clarke would rather have a little amount of money too and Jake was happy with the thought of Clarke and Abby being happy. 

They did not go very often on vacation, not because of money but because of time. Jake was the leader of the technical department of the company where he was working, and Abby was the most important doctor during surgeries. They never went to Europe because that kind of trips costed way too much time for them, they could not be missed at work. There were people at work, who could be replaced but Abby nor Jake belonged to 'that kind' of people.

In fact, they went every summer to another place but never as far as Europe. The furthest and most favorite country were they had been was Costa Rica, where they celebrated the 15th universary of their marriage 5 years ago. They would never forget that trip, they had had an amazing time. 

Their second favorite country was Canada. They had been there for 3 summers in a row, they went camping and had the most fun experiences with animals experienced. 

Clarke loved traveling to Vancouver, she loved the woods, lakes, animals, she loved the nature with her whole heart. She used it as inspiration for her drawings. But if she had the chance to choose a destination, she would definitely go to London, Rome, Paris or Amsterdam. Almost all the famous artists were born there; Picasso, Poussin, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrand van Rijn and way more. She had seen their works only in books or as an image on the internet but she really wanted to see them in real life and now her biggest dream had might become reality. 

\--- day 15 ---

Jake and Clarke were sitting on the couch watching a football game, they laughed all the time. It looked like they were having fun but Clarke could see the concerned look on her fathers face. She saw that something was bothering him, but she had not asked about it. If he wanted to tell her something, then he had to start the conversation.

The door opened, they were looking at Abby, who just had finished her shift at the hospital. "What did i miss?" she asked with a curious sound in her voice. 

Jake looked up to Clarke, "Sorry kid but I need to talk with your mother in private .. Hope you don't mind to go to your room untill we finished" he said with a friendly smile that made it impossible for Clarke to reject his request.

He was standing up from the couch and grabbed Abby's hand, he had a serious, worried look on his face.

"Baby I have to tell you something. You probably won't agree with me, but I have already made my decision" said Jake, looking for eye-contact with his wife. "They have found a lack, it is probably a system-failure. There is something wrong with the wiring of the building of ton D.C. There is a chance I can fix it, then Jaha will give me that free month so I can go to Rome with Clarke." she looked at him with a surprising look while she responded "and if you can't fix it, then what?" 

"There is a chance that I won't survive the mission. I need to replace a few wires, but if I move to quickly or I cut the wrong cable.. Then there will be an explosion taking place depending on the size of the current voltage in the corresponding wire" he said, while he was stroking her cheek waiting for a reaction. 

"I won't let you do it" she retorted immediately, "if something goes wrong, I will not be able to save you and you know that. Receiving such a large amount of power will stop your heartbeat. You will die with the cause of death a cardiac arrest. 

Abby putted his hands off her, and looked him in the eye. He saw the panic in her eyes, while she tried to stop him by saying "don't do this Jake, for Clarke. Do it for Clarke."

They were both standing there, watching for eachother to respond. 

"I'm doing this for Clarke. Ton D.C will literally explode within the next six months and nobody knows when exactly that will happen. 320 innocent people in that building are going to die if I just do nothing. I'll make sure that no one else except me, Wick and Sinclair are in the building when.. uhh when.. when I'll try to fix it. " he said, with a modest smile on his face. "But it does not have to go wrong, don't forget that maybe I'll do my job right for the first time" he joked, she moved toward him and he held her firmly. 

"I love you" he whispered while he took her hand and pressed a kiss on it. "I love you more" she said, tears in her eyes but she did not want to let them out. 

Jake wanted to keep this as a secret for Clarke, he would not want her to worry. In the opposite of Abby, who wanted them to be strong as a family. Clarke had to know that her father was risking his life to save 320 people, she needed a chance to say goodbye before it was too late.

But in the end they came up with the idea to say that Jake had to do a long, tough job so he would get 1 month free for Rome. Jake would leave the house that day exactly the same as he usual did. 

\--- day 20 --- 3AM

Abby was taking her half-hour break during the surgeries, she was sitting on a chair en drank a glass of water, Jackson sat right in front of her. 

She behaved differently than normal, Jackson had noticed it at the begin of the evening but he did not ask about it until now. 

"Is there something that is bothering you, Abby?" he asked with a gentle voice, looking for some answers. She doubted if she should tell him about everything that was going on but she decided to keep it for herself. "Jake has an ehh.., an, an important job to do tonight. He was nervous today, I hope it is going well, he should be done by now" she answered quickly, while she putted fallen hair out of her braid, back behind her ear. 

The air was filled with tension, Jackson knew something was not right. He was concerned about Abby, she was definitely hiding something. 

Suddenly, her phone was making a weird noice, someone was calling her, it was an unknown number. She stared for a few seconds at it, she had not moved since the ringing had started. It did not look like she was surprised, Jackson began to worry even more than he already did. He was wondering who would call her in the middle of the night. He was looking at her, but she did not look at him. She breathed deeply in and out and decided to finally pick up the phone. 

"Belongs this phone-number to Abigail Griffin, the wife of Jake Griffin?" while she heard the voice of a man - who was not her husband - she knew. She knew what happened, she had known it all the time since he told her about his ridiculous plan.

"Yes, that is correct" she whispered, the sound of her voice was low. "Are you sitting down right now?" was the police officer asking, "I'm sorry ma'am to do this over the phone, but your husband was involved in a terrible accident. He is now on his way to the Florence Medial Center in Los Angeles, I'm asking you if you want to meet us there." 

She was not been able to talk right now, Jackson had heard the whole conversation too. He held his hands upon her shoulders, and was trying the best he could to comfort her. The man kept speaking, they heard a voice repeatedly through the microphone; "ma'am? Ma'am are you still there? Where are you now?"

"I'm already at the hospital" she murmured, while she was still in shock. "Jake can arrive any moment, do you want us to call your daughter?" he asked her politely, "It is just an option. I understand if you want to tell her this news in person. Ma'am, it does not have to happen now, another option could be tomorrow, when we will know more about his situation." 

"I'll tell her" was all she answered, while she and Jackson were walking to the hall where patients who just got oud the ambulance were carried inside the hospital. 

She was looking around, she knew this place too well. In fact, this was the place where she worked for almost 18 years now. She was pacing around, and she felt like a mess.

Jackson had told her to tell Clarke about this after tonight and she listened to him. She would tell Clarke everything about what happened tonight, tomorrow. They had been waiting in the hall for 20 minutes, while the police-officer told them that they would be there in 10. She started to wonder whether they were in the good hospital.

Until she saw him. A tall, big man with blonde hair laid down on a stretcher. His eyes were closed and she could not see him breathe. The paramedics were walking instead of running, Abby knew exactly what that meant. He had died during the ride in the ambulance and there was nothing more they could do. 

-Abby was right. Jake Griffin died in the ambulance on his way to the hospital.

A young girl appeared in front of her. "Raven" she said, while she was looking at Abby who did not understand why the girl shook her hand. "Jake asked me to give you his ring and watch as fast as possible. I know this is not a good time at all but.. I'm sorry for your loss" she said, then she grabbed in her pocket and gave Abby the watch and the ring. "Thankyou Raven, I appreciate what you are doing" she answered.

'Name: Jake Griffin'  
'Family: Abigail Griffin, Clarke Griffin'  
'Company: ton D.C - engineer'  
'Cause of death: cardiac arrest'

 

\--- day 21 --- 7AM

 

Abby knocked on Clarkes door, she had not slept all night. She was still in shock and she had not realised what exactly had happened last night. 

"Hmmm mom why are you knocking it is Saturday and way too early for breakfast" she murmured, while she was half asleep. 

Abby entered her room and she was not ready to tell her 17-year-old daughter that her father had died last night while she was asleep. She looked anxiously at Clarke and she did not know where to begin. "What's wrong mom?" Clarke asked, while she was watching her mother acting uncomfortable. "Tell me," "Please".

"Honey, I've spent the whole night at the hospital, but not because of my job as a doctor. Something terrible happened" Abby said while she was doing the best she could to not burst in tears - in front of her daughter who did not know what happened yet. 

"Do you remember dad being so nervous yesterday, for the job he had to fix last night?" she asked her, while she was moving closer to her, "I remember" said Clarke. 

"I got a call last night, it was 3AM and I was in my break. A police officer told me that Jake was involved in an accident, he was on his way to the hospital when the agent called me" she said to her while she wiped a tear away. 

Clarke her eyes filled with tears either, but she did not let them out. She saw how her mother suffered, not only because of something teribble happened to her husband but also that she had to tell it to her, to their daughter. She moved her head closer to her mother and saw in her eyes that she panicked. "Don't feel sorry for me mom, just tell what happened" she said. 

"I saw him on the stretcher while he came inside the hospital. His eyes were closed and he was not breathing. There was nothing more I could do for him" Abby turned to Clarke when tears stroked down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry Clarke, I'm so so sorry" she kept repeating over and over again. 

"Mom stop. Hey, stop. It was not your fault" Clarke said to her with a comforting sound in her voice. 

Abby dried her tears and putted her arm on her daughters back. She was looking at her, but Clarke did not see it, she was staring at the wall. It seemed as if she had not realised it when she comforted her mother 4 minutes ago. It felt as if she was paralized, she could not move or speak. Abby pressed Clarkes head against her chest and was stroking her hair. 

"Honey, you don't have to be strong this time, let it go. It would not be healthy if you were not sad right now" said Abby, sitting on Clarkes bed with Clarke against her, "It is okay to feel terrible." 

She kept talking to her eventhough Clarke did not respond. After 10 minutes, she finally released her tears and cried it all out in the arms of her mother. 

"I.. I.. don't want him,.. him, I don't want him to be dead mom, life is so not fair" she said with a crying voice, she could not stop the tears from falling, not this time. "I know sweetheart, I know" Abby responded to her while she was holding her tightly. 

\--- day 230 ---

A half year after Jakes unexpected death, the Griffin women were trying hard to pick up their lives again. Clarke was more able to do that than Abby was. 

Clarke went back to school, and started to live as a normal teenage girl again. Abby was still working in the hospital, but since Jake, she had not done any nightshifts. 

The wounds were still not healed yet, they would probably never completely heal. If they were lucky, they only would hold invisible scars.

These kind of scars were not supposed to be seen as damage to your body, these scars were called 'mental scars.' 

Clarke was usually meeting her friends. She hung out a lot with Wells lately. He was the son of Thelonious Jaha, the boss of the company where her father had been working for. Everytime she saw Wells, it reminded her of her father. But she could not blame Wells, as if he could do anything about being the son of such an asshole. 

She thought that her father had taken the job that night so he would get one month free off. It felt as he had done it for her - what was true - but Clarke did not know the exact reason. 

She had doubted for a long time, if she still would go to Rome. After talking about it with Wells - who was also going - she decided that she had to go, otherwise her father had died for nothing for a reward of the job if she was not going anyway.

Her mother did not think the same about this and she knew that. Abby wanted Clarke to stay, to stay here with her. Rome was far away, and 1 month was a long time. 

"Mom, I need to talk about Rome with you. I have decided to go anyway. To be honest, I think it could be nice, and we have already paid" she announced, "I'm leaving in 40 days." 

"You think that you can make those decisions all by yourself?" Abby answered, she was a bit surprised. "I never was a fan of the whole Rome trip and I think we should think but definitely talk about this, before we decide anything at all."

Clarke looked at her mother, she felt sorry for her. She knew that she was not able to miss her that long, but she had to do this for herself. She had to find herself back again, she wanted to enjoy her life back again. 

"Mom.. I have to do this. I want to do this. You have to let me go" she said, her eyes were wet and she moved closer to her mother. She stroked down a tear on her mothers cheek and pressed her head against her chest. 

\--- day 270 ---

Clarke and Abby were on their way to the airport. Clarke was holding her ticket in her hand, she was excited.

LAX - FCO, the flight lasted 14 hours with a stopover in London. 

All the students would stay with a host family in groups of 4. Clarke, Harper, Bellamy and Murphy were classified in the family Hedaci. They had a daughter Lexa, who was picking them up from the airport. Clarke was curious about her, they had written e-mails to eachother and she followed her on Instagram.

While Abby and Clarke were waiting to check her suitcase in, a man suddenly bumped against Abby. He had dark hair and brown eyes, he was with someone younger. "Hey Bellamy" Clarke said before the man could apologize to the woman who he just had bumped. "Hey Clarke" the boy answered, he looked up to Abby "I'm sorry for my uncle ma'am, he is occasionally a bit churlish." Abby laughed a little.

"I can apologize myself" he said, while he looked at Abby "I'm Marcus, sorry for what happened, I hope you are okay" while he putted his hairlock back to the place where it belonged. 

"She did not ask for you name either, Kane" said Bellamy with a naughty smile on his face, Clarke and Abby giggled. 

"I'm fine" Abby said, while she was looking at the stranger right in front of her.


	2. A piece of paper

\--- day 270 ---

Abby, Clarke, Bellamy and Marcus were standing in the departures hall, they all had their own thoughts and each of them was busy with their own stuff.

Abby was standing next to her daughter while she looked at the man who just had told her his name. Despite the fact that she did not know him, she had to admit to herself; the man had something special, something that no other man she had ever seen had. 

Bellamy was looking around with the hope to see some other students. He was a bit nervous and for that, there were 2 reasons:  
1) the boy had never been in a plane before.  
2) he had no control over the plane which meant he had no control over himself and that scared the hell out of him.

Marcus was thinking about how stupid he just had been. Telling the woman his name before he even apologized to her? How dumb was he? He was drowning in his own mind and people who walked by, were watching to him with a strange look. He was staring at a random piece of air, but he had not realized it until now.  
"What are you looking at? A ghost?" Bellamy asked after he saw his uncle staring to nothing. "No I just.. stared" he answered, he felt like he had woken up, as if he had been unconscious for 5 minutes. 

Clarke was wearing a black skinny jeans with holes at her knees. Thereupon, she wore a blue lace shirt, it was her favorite outfit. She wanted that the people in Italy who she was going to meet, would meet her in these clothes. She did not wear often clothes in color, at least she used to until the day her father had died. For now she kept it with the basic blue-white-black-grey style where she felt comfortable in. 

She was not that type of girl that took far to many clothes with her, she made rather place for other things in her suitcase for example books, paper, pencils and markers.

The griffin women were looking at the clock, they had both the same expression on their face. All arround them, they saw people saying goodbye to eachother. For some, it went with a tear, others with a laugh. They both knew that this moment would come, but Clarke as Abby had not spoken about it.

"I'm going to miss you... a lot" she said to her daughter, stroking her back with one hand while the other held her head close to hers.

"Gonna miss you too mom, but I'm sure you will manage without me" Clarke said to her, trying to react as positive as possible with a little humor "I mean, one month isn't that long is it? Even though I'm a pretty nice person to miss." Abby giggled and pressed a kiss against her hair.

"Call me when you get there!" 

"I will" she said with an excited look on her face. 

They waved to eachother for one more time. This whole good-bye thing was easier than Clarke had expected. Fortunately, it was not as emotional as she thought it would be, since she always tried to avoid those kind of situations. 

"Take care of yourself Kane, I"ll text you when I get there" Bellamy said to Marcus while he was searching for something in his backpack.

"You should do that. Take care and have fun" he smiled, then he walked to his nephew and hugged him. "Hey" said Bellamy, "Take it easy. People will think that we are married if you keep hugging me like this." 

"People may think what they want" he answered, he did not care about what people may would think or say about him or his family. He used to do that a lot when he was younger and he was not exactly happier back then.

"Tell O. I will send her pictures.. If she wants then" Bellamy said with a sad tone in his voice. "Clarke, your ready? Our gate opens within an hour and we need to go to through customs." 

Bellamy and Clarke were walking away from her mother and his uncle. They were both so nervous and excited that they did not realise what for awkward tension was hanging in the air, between these two adults. 

"Again, my apologies for what happend earlier" he said, while he was standing there with a copy of their flight-data in his hands. The distance between them was too large, especially for people who were having a conversation for the first time.

"It's fine, I was already forgotten" she answered with a friendly smile on her face. "Glad to hear that" his smile was sweet, but she had noticed that he was acting uncomfortable so she decided to say: "Well, I have a lot of work to do that is waiting on my desk for me to come home.. so I'll guess I'll go" while she was looking in her bag for the keys of her car. 

{Stop her. You don't even know her name. Ask it her. You will never see her again if you don't make a move within a few minutes. Why are you standing there as a cold, uninterested man. Do something.} 

His head and his heart were having a little fight. 

But instead, he told her that he had also work to do. "Yes.. the same for me, but it was a pleasure to meet you... may I ask what your name is?" he asked, his hairlock hing above his eyebrow and his eyes were mysteriously dark. 

"I'm Abby, it was nice to meet you too. Maybe we"ll see eachother again" to which he replied: "Again?"

The look on her face was a little bit confused. "I mean when Clarke and... -Bellamy was it? will come back from Italy? Or will his mother pick him up then? 

Abby spoke before she had thought of what she actually said. It was very rude of her to ask something that private. It was none of her business who would pick him up. She regretted it immediately. 

"I'm sorry for asking those questions, I understand if you dont want to answer them" she said, he could see that she was emberassed. 

"Bellamy his mother is not alive anymore, you could not know that" was what he said to her. "I'm sorry" she said, she had a flashback of the situation after Jakes death. How many people had asked her, where Clarke her father had been and every time she needed to explain that he was not here anymore. And the worst thing of all was that she just had asked the answer of a question, which she hated the most when people were asking it to her.

Their ways seperated and they stepped each alone in their car, going back to their house. Abby drove away at first, while Marcus was looking to her until she was completely out of his sight. 

The woman he just met was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her hair was pretty long, with a golden glow and her face was literally a gift from heaven. 

Her name was Abby, but what was her last name? He had seen a tag in her purse, the Florence Medical Center was with big letters written down on it but he had not seen the rest of the text.

He assumed that she worked there but she could also had an appointment recently. It could be everything. That piece of paper would help him no further than he already was which was certainly not far at all.

Abby was nearly at her house, she did not live far away from the airport. It was only an hour drive from the airport through her house - at least if you had not had much delays. 

She thought about why she had to ask that question, why she had asked something that private. But he had been honest with her - what she really appreciated - and that made her more curious about him. Even though she wanted to know more about this strange man who she met 2 hours ago, she let it go. She was not ready to date someone and he had probably already forgotten her. 

\--- 

Clarke and Bellamy were sitting in the plane, next to eachother. Bellamy by the window, Clarke in the middle, and an empty seat next to her. It was her fathers, and it still was. Out of respect they had not sold the ticket or given it to someone else, it belonged to Jake Griffin. 

Fortunaty, everything after the customs had gone well, the plane would take off about 20 minutes. Bellamy breathed irregularly, he had two kind of breaths. At first, he breathed a deep in and quiet, and then two times quickly while he was looking anxiously around him. Clarke had noticed he was tense, cute was what she called it.

"Ladies and gentleman, my name is Cage Wallace and I'm your chief flight attendant. On behalf of captain Shumway, and the entire crew, welcome aboard." 

They both picked up their phone to send quickly a message to their family, while the flight attendants came along to see of everyone had his hand luggage in a safe place. 

| To: MOM  
"We are in the plane, ready to leave. X" |  
SEND 2PM

"At this time, make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position and that your seat belt is correctly fastened. Also, your portable electronic devices must be set to 'airplane' mode until an announcement is made upon arrival. Thankyou."

The take-off went well - happy Bellamy - and before they had realized, they were at the maximum height. Bellamy was looking out the window and saw a blue sky without any clouds. "Clarke, you have to see this. The view is amazing" he said, she could hear the excitement in his voice. She was excited too, but she did not know exactly how to feel; this was the trip that costed her father his life. 

The plane landed after a flight of 10 hours in London. They had to wait for 2 more hours before the next plane would take them off to the final destination, Rome. On the airport, they had aten fastfood and starbucks. On their coffee-buckets stood "Klaark" and "Blamie", they had laughed about it.

-

They were sitting in the plane to Italy, the flight was going to take 4 hours. In total, they had spent 18 hours on traveling now and they had been awoke for longer than 24 hours. Their bodies needed rest.

"Ladies and gentleman, I'd like to direct your attention to the television monitors. We will be showing our safety demonstration and would like the next few minutes of your complete attention.  
When the seat belt sign illuminates, you must fasten your seat belt. Insert the metal fittings one into the other and tighten by pulling on the loose end of the stra-"

They had not heard the rest of the safety demonstration, once the door had closed, they both fell asleep at the same time. 

\--- 4 hours later ---

The plane came down with a hard landing which had awoken them both. 

At first, Bellamy looked to Clarke, when he saw that she was fine, he watched to the other people and then he looked outside the window. He saw that they had landed, a little smile on his face appeared. Even though he did not like to admit it to himself, he was relieved that they had arrived safely and everything had gone well so far. 

"We are in Italy" Clarke said to him, like she could not believe it was actually true that they were in the country that she had always wanted to visit. "Yes we are" he answered, while he barely could not wait to leave the plane.

| Mom, we are arrived safely. The flight has gone well, we are tired but also curious about our host family who we are going to meet within 30 minutes. I will call you as soon as I can. X me |  
SEND 1 PM

After they got their suitcases from the band and went to the toilets they wondered where the others had been. They were looking for their roommates: Murphy and Harper. Harper was as usual hanging out with Monty in the Free-Wifi Zone while Murphy was complaining about the flight that - according to him - had took way too long.

"We don't have time for this" said Bellamy, "We have to go find our host-family." He was unpatiently looking for the exit. "You should relax more, it is not that we have not the time or something, a month is also way too long to spend he-" Murphy had not finished his sentence before Bellamy interrupted him. "Instead of talking about things you don't like, you can also help me with a thing that I do like and that is finding the way in this airport." 

"Guys I think I've found the hall we are looking for!" yelled Harper a few metres away from them. Murphy wanted to say something to Bellamy, but he decided smartly to keep his mouth shut. "Finally, thanks Harper" Bellamy said. 

They walked into a hall, they were hoping it was the right one. All around them, people were watching to the passengers, most of them were looking if they could see their exchange students from the United States. 

More and more students had found their family, but the 4 had not yet. They kept looking in the crowd, but nobody had told him how the family 'Hedaci' looked like. Clarke only knew Lexa from a few selfies that she had posted on Instagram. 

After 20 minutes of searching desperately to a sign that someone was holding, something happend. A small, young girl approached Bellamy. "You must be Bellamy" she said, standing with a paper in her hand with Bellamy,Clarke,Harper,Murphy on it. "Yes, I am" Bellamy answered. He had almost given up hope to find them. 

"Welcome to Italy, I"m Lexa, in case you did not know." 

Bellamy looked for Clarke, they had separated ways in the hope to find the family faster. He saw her and made a gesture with his hand. 

She was walking toward Bellamy and the others and she had noticed immediately that Lexa was standing next to them.  
"Salve lexa, sono Clarke. Piacere di conoscerti - nice to meet you" all her roommates had a confused look on their face when she spoke in Italian to Lexa. 

She had learned a few Italian sentences and words, she liked learning stuff like this. And maybe it could help them to make the communication easier between them and the natural inhabitants.

"Hello Clarke, I"m Lexa. It is nice to meet you too. I speak English as well as I speak Italian" she smiled to her, while they were shaking hands. Despite the fact that they had written E-mails in English, Clarke had not expected to see Lexa speaking English as a second language. She was surprised about that, but Lexa was exact the same as she thought she would be in her mind. 

"My name is Lexa Hedaci, you can pronounce it as 'edatsjie', but it does not matter how you say it, I prefer Lexa anyway" she announced to the group. "We have to take the bus for 2 hours, then we will arrive at the place where you will stay for a month." 

\--- 

"Raven you have to go the hospital, if you don't, I will not let you work anymore. It's just for a check, it's for your own good" Sinclair said to her, she was stubborn as hell but he knew that if he threatened with losing her job, she would push her pride aside and give him what he wanted. 

"You can't stand all day on your legs while your surgery wound in the right one is getting worse. What if it is an infection? I know someone who can check you hopefully today" he said with a concerned voice while he grabbed his phone to make a call. 

"I like to speak dr. Abigail Griffin. .... Yes, I know she only does surgeries, but tell her that Sinclair from the company ton D.C wants to talk to her. It's an emergency." 

He waited for a minute before Abby had answered the phone. "Sinclair, you called because of an emergency. What do you need me for?" she asked. 

"There is nothing with me, I'm calling for Raven. She had a few weeks ago an accident where her leg had been injured. After a couple surgeries and doctor appointments, she was allowed to do her work again. But now, her wound looks like it is getting worse, it is bruised and the stitches had broken 2 hours ago." 

He was worried about her. He did not have any children, but Raven felt like one to him. She was the best student he had ever had, she was smart, adapted and fast. He knew she would become a great mechanic - what she already was - but than better, if that was even possible.

"You have an appointment this afternoon" he announced to the young mechanic "I'm glad I've persuade you to go to her, she is the best in her job and a very kind person Raven, I promise."

"Wait. Abby Griffin as in Jake griffin?" was what she asked, knowing already the answer of her question, Sinclair only needed to confirm it.

"Yes, she is.. was his wife."

\--- 

Raven walked inside the hospital, her left leg moved way faster than her right. Life sucked right now, she thought. She could predict what Abby was going to say to her, something like 'oh your leg is getting worse, you have to rest. No work for the upcoming two weeks' like she was used to hear. 

She was sitting in the waiting room, refreshing the page on tumblr until she had seen all the messages that were recently posted. Suddenly, Abby stood right in front of her. 

"Hello Raven, how are you doing?" she asked. "I'm great" was what she answered, she had made it sound sarcastic but not arrogant.

"Sinclair told me what happened to you earlier today, maybe you can tell me more about it later. Are you coming with me to my chamber?" she asked, Raven was surprised, it felt to her like Abby was the first doctor who actually cared about her well-being and not because it was a part of the job to ask how a patient was doing. 

"About a month ago, I was fixing something, but all of a sudden a heavy object fell on my leg. It had not had oxygen for a while, and it bleeded as hell. When I went to see a doctor, they told me that they needed to operate me and my leg would never heal completely, at least that is what they thought" she said, Abby noticed that she told it to her without any emotion, but she could see that the girl did care about it. She reminded her of Clarke. 

"But I'm going to prove the opposite doc. I don't want to depend on anyone or crutches."

"I hope you do. Do you mind if I take a look?" she asked her politely, she normally did not serve as a doctor who diagnosed what the patient ailed. She only did surgeries, but for collegues of Jake, she would always make an exception and especially for Raven. She liked Raven. 

"Go ahead, do what you have to do" Raven said. 

"Well, It does not look very strange to me, while she pressed gently on the wound. The bruised part is because your skin is recovering from the damage. They can do that only by putting pressure on it so because of that, blood will get blue. The stitches had torn apart because they were not necessary anymore. I think your leg is healing, instead of getting worse" she said, smiling to the girl, who could not believe what she just heard. 

Did she hear Abby saying HEAL instead of getting worse? A doctor who was saying some positive things to her was new, she had not known that doctors could also made you feel happy instead of sad. 

"So that means I can work?" Raven said with a smile on her face, this had definitely lighten her day. 

"Yes, you can but don't ask to much from yourself until you are entirely recovered. If there is ever anything what is bothering you, or Sinclair, you can always call me. Here is my hospital-cart with my phone-number on the left side" she said. 

"Thank you Abby, for saying this but also for making time for me. 'I really appreciate what you are doing'" this sentence gave Abby a throwback, because she had said the exactly same thing to Raven when they had first met.

 

Raven decided to tell her uncle - who was not really her related uncle, but he felt as one - Marcus Kane that she would recover. "I'm glad to hear that Raven, I"m happy for you" he said through the microphone of his iPhone. "If you want, you can have diner tonight with me and Octavia, we do have something to celebrate after all don't we?

"Sounds good. You are damn right, we are having definitely something to celebrate. Meet you at 8" she answered.

-

"Tell us about your appointment this afternoon, how did you know that your leg will heal?" Marcus asked, he took another bite of his delicious steak. It was Raven her favorite meal, steak with the self made jus of Marcus. 

"I went to the Florence Medial Center to see doctor Abigail Griffin and she told me that my leg was healing instead of getting wor-" but Marcus interrupted her.

"Abby as the mother of Clarke Griffin?" He suddenly remembered the piece of paper in her purse. The look on his face was curious, it seemed like he was wondering how Raven had known her and he had not.

"Uh yeah, I don't know for sure by the way, but why are you asking that Kane, I had not even finished my sentence" she said, "But this steak is so damn good." 

"Forget it I'm sorry. Thank you" he apologized, "What did you think of her?"

"Why do you care about what I think of Abby Griffin" she asked, he could see that she was confused.  
"I met her yesterday when I had dropped Bellamy at the aiport. He left to Italy with her daughter, Clarke" Kane said, but Raven still did not know exactly why he was curious about what she thought of her, but she do had a suspicion. 

"I think I'll go, I have to fix some devices tonight, but thanks for the diner" she said, she pulled her coat on and Kane left her out. 

When he came back, he saw a piece of paper on the table, laying on the side where Raven had sat. 

"She had left it behind for you" Octavia said, she had not said anything during diner. Marcus picked up the piece of paper from the table and read the following text:

Florence Medical Center LOS ANGELES  
Dr. Abigail Griffin, chief-surgeon  
Phone-number: 001-555-6832

Apparently, Raven had understood what he was trying to say during their conversation this evening. He smiled, in his head, he did a little dance of joy. 

Finally, he knew her whole name, and he had her phone number. The only thing he needed more but did not have, was courage. 

\--- 

"We are there. This is Rome, the place where everyone wants to be" Lexa said with a smile on her face. "Come I"ll show you your rooms." 

Lexa and her family did not live in the old town, but also not in the suburbs. If they wanted to the shoppingmal or other places of interest, they had to take the bus for a 15-minute ride. Their house had a white color, and they lived in a street with all detached houses. 

Lexa had a younger brother, his name was Aden. 

They lived in Italy and spoke Italian, but their first names were American. That was because they were named to their grandparents, who had been both citizens of the United States. 

Their house had 5 bedrooms, 3 of them were occupied. There were 3 rooms on the first floor, her parents and her little brother slept here. Lexa slept in the attic. 

"Bellamy and Murphy, you sleep in the room next to Aden. There are fresh sheets in the closet, I expect that you change it every saturday" Lexa said, "you can unpack your suitcases, lunch will be ready in one hour."

"Change it every saturday?" Murphy asked, at home he changed it every 2 months - he knew that was nasty - "Are you out of your godda-"  
Bellamy looked up at him and he knew that look. It meant 'Take back what you have just said. NOW.'

"Okay don't mind I'll do it" he said. Lexa did not gave him attention and continued her tour.

They walked upstairs. Lexa slept in the room on the right side, so Clarke and Harper would have the room on the left. "See you at lunch" she said, then she closed the door. 

"Wait" Clarke said, "Do you go to churches sometimes?" she asked. 

"Yes, i do, I have visited a lot churches here" she retorted but she did not get why she would ask that to her. 

"Have you ever been in the Eden Church?" 

When Lexa heard the word 'Eden', something changed in the way how she looked from her eyes. She looked to the ground and then to Clarke. 

"Yes, I insert there each week a candle for those who I have lost. It's the most beautiful church I have ever seen in my life" she said. 

-

"You have reached the voice-mail of Dr. Abigail Griffin. I'm not available right now, but you can leave a message after the beep so I can call you back." 

After he had heard her voicemail, he pressed the red button so he did not have to hear the beep. He would try it again tomorrow, or maybe tonight. Maybe it was better that she did not answer her phone, at least he could not say something stupid now.

**Author's Note:**

> kabby & clexa will come soon :)


End file.
